Friday night notes — Montana rumors, ET returns to the Northwest, and more

— We’ll start with something we Tweeted about earlier today — a report from TexasHSFootball.com that Nick Montana is “likely” to transfer to Blinn College, a two-year school in Brenham, Texas best known as the place where Cam Newton spent a year before heading to Auburn.

A later Tweet from a TV reporter in College Station, Texas said there was confirmation that Montana had contacted Blinn coaches about “the possibility” of transferring there. That’s obviously a little bit softer of a report than saying he is likely to transfer, and neither is saying he has or that it’s a done deal.

As I Tweeted a few hours ago, Montana is enrolled at UW, was on campus today and is expected to be part of the team this year. UW coach Steve Sarkisian was asked today during his teleconference today if there were any players on the active roster who wouldn’t be back in 2012 and he did not mention Montana (he didn’t mention anyone other than guys who had an extra year of eligibility if they had wanted to use it such as Greg Walker and Luther Leonard, who decided a while ago not to return).

That said, things can always change. As numerous people have pointed out — this is a very popular topic in every chat I do — backup quarterbacks often do transfer, and at the moment Montana appears stuck behind Keith Price for two more years while also having to fend off Derrick Brown and two highly-touted QBs who have committed to sign this year — Jeff Lindquist and Cyler Miles.

Everyone wants to play and quarterback is the one spot where only one guy can play at a time, so the transfer rate of QBs who won’t win starting jobs is probably higher than at any other spot.

Transferring to a JC for a year where he could play and get experience and then be able to pick another four-year spot might make some sense for someone in Montana’s position — former Husky Taylor Barton did the exact same thing, leaving Colorado to head to City College of San Francisco and playing there and before landing at UW.

With the team in the off-season, we don’t have ready access to talk to players, so this isn’t something we can just ask Montana about after practice.

But as noted above and worth repeating, he’s enrolled, on campus, with the general feeling at UW being that any rumors of him transferring are news to them. Likely, rumors of Montana transferring will persist until the day he does, or his eligibility at UW runs out.

— Former Husky Charles Frederick is resuming his professional career in Spokane. Here’s a press release with details today from the the Spokane Shock of the Arena Football League:

The Spokane Shock announced today that WR Charles Frederick, nicknamed “ET,” has been added to the 2012 roster. The 2007 AFL Rookie of the Year played a key role in capturing the af2 ArenaCup Championship for Spokane in 2006.
That season, Frederick (6-0, 205) led the team in receptions (85), receiving yards (973), and receiving touchdowns (22).

In 2007, Frederick made the jump to the AFL with the Kansas City Brigade where he continued to flourish under Coach Siegfried’s offense recording a rookie leading 115 receptions – including 27 for touchdowns – with 1,397 yards. The following season, despite suffering an injury, Frederick recorded 76 receptions for 904 yards with 13 touchdowns. Most recently, Frederick was a member of the Jacksonville Sharks in 2011.
“Spokane fans will remember him from our 2006 Championship season,” General Manager Ryan Rigmaiden said. “After Spokane, he made a name for himself in the AFL where he used the explosive speed that we saw in Spokane and at the University of Washington.”

Prior to his professional career, Frederick exploded onto the college football scene at the University of Washington where he collected 3,787 all-purpose yards (1,735 receiving, 24 rushing yards, 699 punt return yards, and 1,329 kick return yards).

“After he left Spokane and moved up to the AFL, Frederick continued to improve his game in Kansas City,” head coach Andy Olson said. “We’re excited to see him back in a Spokane uniform.”

Spokane opens its 2012 season on March 12th hosting the Iowa Barnstormers

— The website StadiumJourney.com has a writeup on Husky Stadium, which admittedly is hardly relevant now given that they’ve torn the thing down. But I thought I’d pass it along anyway.